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User blog:Cfp3157/Special Citation Ballot: 2018
Every year, there are certain miscellaneous categories in the film world that aren't really recognitions of formal filmmaking techniques that nevertheless make a huge impression on the year. These special citations are mostly superficial ones, with very niche categories that help make film and film discourse enjoyable rather than purely academic. Without further ado, the inaugural Special Citation Awards. Most Underrated Film: First Man No film has astounded as a pure technical feat of filmmaking in the same way that Damien Chazelle does in the underseen and flawlessly crafted First Man. Not only does Chazelle bring his crafts team, but he garners career best performances from Ryan Gosling and Claire Foy while making a purposefully closed off, powerfully distant script relatable and humanistic. Although it managed to make back its budget and then some, the total coldness from both general audiences and critics is puzzling, especially considering the tower of praise they were willing to give Chazelle's previous efforts. Honorable Mentions: Crazy Rich Asians was never an awards contender, but it should've been with its engaging cast, vibrant script, and powerful directing that shows the power in allowing creators of any color to tell their own stories. Widows disappointed at the box office but not as a filmmaking endeavor with its dynamite cast and whip smart screenplay. Mary Queen of Scots is an actual costume drama that is engaging and theatrical but never over-the-top, perfect in its classical nature and willingness to become approachable. Most Overrated Film: The Favourite Yorgos Lanthimos is not a good filmmaker. He is solely at fault for this film's failures, with technical decisions such as disorienting cinematography and bombastic, overly played music forcing viewers into a ruckus of a viewing experience. His directorial choices are inefficient as well, creating unnecessary awkwardness and focusing on the trivialities that makes for an unengaging, frustrating narrative. His fancy costumes can't distract from the ugly presentation he creates, while a decent script and a talented cast can't elevate a tone and delivery that makes for a film that is dull to the point of drooling at best and masturbation upon the audience at worst. Honorable Mentions: A Quiet Place is certainly a strong directorial feat technically, thanks to excellent sound work and editing, but its overreliance on that makes for a shallow narrative for a cast of powerful actors to work with. Bohemian Rhapsody may be a crow-pleasing delight, but it's instantly forgettable and downright offensive for its cursory, basic glance at the complicated enigma that was Freddie Mercury. Roma is a fantastic technical achievement and Yalitza Aparicio is a treasure, but Alfonso Cuaron broke a fundamental rule of storytelling by making a film so intimate that only he and a small community can garner its message unaided. Best Villain: Thanos (Josh Brolin), Avengers: Infinity War The very delivery of Thanos doesn't just make him a compelling villain, but a compelling character. The visual effects mastery required to bring him to life; Josh Brolin's gripping and powerful performance to make him relatable; and smart writing courtesy of Stephen McFeely and Christopher Markus that made the six years of hype surrounding Thanos to be more than worth it. The Mad Titan would've earned this spot based off the filmmaking alone, but that's ignoring the massive effect he's had on pop culture. Shifting the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and therefore the defining franchise of this generation, into a new, darker tone with just a snap of his fingers, Thanos has gone from obscure comic book villain to a monument of characters. Honorable Mentions: Jasper Paakonen is a violent, charismatic portrayal of pure virulent racism in living, breathing form to Adam Driver and John David Washington in BlacKKKlansman. Michael B. Jordan is the awakening backlash to what society has created, a relatable but undeniably ruthless antithesis to the stoic Chadwick Boseman in Black Panther. Michelle Yeoh is chilling, vibrant, and deliciously tactical in her antagonistic- although not purely evil- machinations against Constance Wu in Crazy Rich Asians. Best Action Scene: The Motorcycle Chase, Mission Impossible - Fallout Mission Impossible - Fallout makes a strong contention for being the best action film of the decade, and there's a collage of reasons why. The most vital and gripping setpiece to watch has to be the Paris Motorcycle Chase in the film's bridge between second and third act. While there are several more flashy setpieces later on, it's the gripping, intimate chase in Paris that remains my highlight. The camera moves with Tom Cruise as he winds through streets and dodges cars at the last possible second. Cut together with Solomon's capture by Benji and Luthor, the crowd watches in anticipation as they wonder how Hunt can escape this time. In the highest peak, Cruise drives recklessly into a roundabout, the wind of passing civilian cars slapping him and the audience right in the face. After several perilous seconds of this, he turns into a clearing and crashes. But wait, Tom Cruise doesn't crash? Will they catch actually catch him? And the answer, of course, is no as he falls into a sewer grate and into the boat awaiting him. But Christopher McQuarrie could've tricked anyone otherwise. Honorable Mentions: This entire list could've been Mission Impossible - Fallout, for the record. Anyway, the quick burst of energy as the Space Avengers clash with the Guardians of the Galaxy as they meet over mistaken identities and the important questions of life like "Why is Gamora?" in Avengers: Infinity War. A gunfight has never been so morbidly hilarious as when Joaquin Phoenix, John C. Reily, and Jake Gyllenhall all fight off bounty hunters in a river in The Sisters Brothers. Action scenes aren't just fights, with the initial test flight of the X-15 rocket that touches the atmosphere sends Ryan Gosling hurtling into the Mojave Desert and audiences into the gripping FIrst Man. Best Comedic Performance: "Buster Scruggs" (Tim Blake Nelson), The Ballad of Buster Scruggs The epitome of a Coen brothers' character, Tim Blake Nelson delivers astoundingly as the San Saba Songbird. While his pipes are just as fun to listen to, its the musings about the violent world around Buster Scruggs that makes him such an entertaining man to watch. Cheerful, friendly, and sociopathic, Nelson infuses Scruggs with the kind of wit and charm to allow the pure violence and misanthropic anger that brews beneath the surface to be buried entirely. No moment proves his dastardly but delightful brand of comedy like his musical number "Curly Joe (Little Joe the Wrangler)", drawing an entire saloon to sing along to the brutal execution he just performed. In a film full of memorable sequences, Buster Scruggs demands his own entire film. Honorable Mentions: Awkwafina breaks onto the silver screen in a big way, with her bombastic and endearing brand of high-energy to infiltrate its way into the audience in Crazy Rich Asians. Paul Walter Hauser is a bumbling fool of a racist, allowing audiences to laugh with him and at him in spite of his vile way of thinking in BlacKKKlansman. Sterling K. Brown is clearly having the time of his life as he delivers quips with over-the-top sinister inflections and charismatic swag in The Predator. Best Musical Sequence: The Live Aid Concert, Bohemian Rhapsody It's hard to even attempt to recreate the most influential and breathtaking concert of all-time; it's unfathomable that it could be pulled off successfully. And yet, despite the film before it, Bohemian Rhapsody delivers fully in placing viewers into the shoes of Queen as they pour their heart and soul into Live Aid. Playing an iconic tracklist including "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Radio Ga-Ga", "We Wil Rock You", and "We Are the Champions", Dexter Fletcher and Rami Malek accomplished the impossible by making viewers stomp, clap, and belt every single note or lyric they knew at the top of their lungs. Although it may not compare to having watched it live, Bohemian Rhapsody is a worthy endeavor all the same. Honorable Mentions: A vicious family of upper class elites and a feisty girlfriend all put aside their differences to celebrate love in its purest, truest form when Elvis Presley's "Can't Help Falling In Love", covered by Kina Grannis, plays to a bride walking down the aisle in Crazy Rich Asians. Cynthia Erivo pours her heart and soul, years of frustration and rejection, into a powerful solo ballad that sways a hardened fugitive and a veteran criminal to stunned admiration when she sings the Isley Brothers' "This Old Heart of Mine" in Bad Times at the El Royale. Best Couple: "Rachel" (Constance Wu) and "Nick" (Henry Golding), Crazy Rich Asians The chemistry between these two is electric, with the witty and intelligent Rachel easily meshing with the suave and sweet-hearted Nick Young. Despite their differences in class- she the daughter of an immigrant, he the heir to the most wealthy family in Singapore- they never feel like they couldn't belong together. It's a truly modern relationship as well, with Nick being perfectly willing to stand up to the tradition of his family to be with Rachel and Rachel allowing herself to not conform to Eleanor's guidelines any more than she's comfortable with. True love is what is between Rachel and Nick, without question even with the many trials between them. Honorable Mentions: Despite the volatile nature and whirlwind of a romance that it is, Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga share an unfathomable amount of pure physical attraction and emotional connection in A Star is Born. An old marriage is often a good marriage, with Toni Colette and Gabriel Byrne echoing decades of equal love and nurturing affection between them in Hereditary. Complicated but earnest in its emotional honesty, Rami Malek and Lucy Boynton share a love that blossoms into friendship that lacks no sincerity that would've made for a far more gripping film in Bohemian Rhapsody. Worst Couple: T'Challa (Chadwick Boseman) and Nakia (Lupita N'Yongo), Black Panther This is through no fault of the actors involved, but simply a lack of believable development and time devoted to this relationship that makes it feel hollow. It's genuinely difficult to tell if Chadwick Boseman and Lupita N'Yongo have chemistry, since there are so few scenes with the two of them together. While on paper it does make sense to bring them together, the execution is unfortunately flawed in a way that prevents a good script from becoming great and holds back to top-tier actors from giving top-tier performances. Honorable Mentions: Once again due primarily to a lack of motivation, Tom Hardy and Michelle Williams aren't given enough material to make their eventual romance together click quite right in Venom. The same applies to Daniel Kaluuya and Danai Guerra, who's romantic relationship is only even mentioned in snippits of dialogue in Black Panther. Coming out-of-left-field and hastily introduced, Ethan Hawke and Amanda Seyfried make due with a hasty arc that is supposed to be the film's crescendo in First Reformed. Category:Blog posts Category:Personal Ballot